Zeitner hot on a cold race night at ACS

Justin Zeitner, family and crew celebrate his first win of the 2013 season in the Coors Light Silver Bullet late models at Adams County Speedway.

By BURTON HEATON
Adams Co. Speedway

CORNING — A bitterly cold night with strong north winds greeted a hardy crowd on hand to watch Justin Zeitner hold off a determined Chris Spieker and Jason O’Brien to capture his first win of the 2013 season in the Coors Light Silver Bullet late models at Adams County Speedway.

Meanwhile, Todd Van Eaton wound up with the trophy and win in the Poet Biorefining modified feature when apparent winner Ryan Schaffer was disqualified for an illegal spoiler.

Other feature winners were Jeremy Purdy and Brad Derry, while Stalker Chevrolet b-mod driver John Plowman made it two for two this year in capturing his second win.

Late model

Trent Jackson roared to the front on the second lap of the late model feature race and built a comfortable margin as the pack jostled for position behind him. By lap number nine Justin Zeitner had closed the gap and made the pass for the lead. The race was halted for a brief red flag period on lap 15 when multiple cars were involved in an accident along the front stretch. While six cars exited the race with damages there were no injuries and the racing resumed.

Chris Spieker and Jason O’Brien were able to close the gap but finished second and third respectively. Paul Glendenning finished fourth and Sterling Perkins captured his first career top five finish just one week before his scheduled graduation from Lamoni High School.

Modified

Corning’s Ryan Schaffer used his pole starting position to lead the Poet Biorefining modified feature from flag to flag, but found himself disqualified in post-race inspection with a spoiler that measured beyond the allowable length.

That left Todd Van Eaton as the declared winner for the race. Van Eaton started outside row one and held off a hard charging John Davis who had won the prior week and had moved up from his outside row six starting position. Rounding out the top five were Jeff Wiggins, Jesse Dennis, and Jared Stiens.

Pro stock

Brad Derry came to ACS fresh off a Friday night win at the Atchison Kansas speedway, and had to pass most of the field twice to get the win at ACS. Starting seventh in a field of 18, Derry had to exit the track early in the race to have a flapping rear bumper removed from his car.

Restarting at the rear he wasted no time streaking to the front and taking the lead from Creston’s Kevin Sharp with four circuits remaining. Sharp finished second, holding off defending champion Greg Miller, while fourth and fifth were two Corning based cars driven by Joe Zadina and Clay Mercer.

B-mods

A field of twenty-one Stalker Chevrolet b-mods took the green flag for what was to be a caution filled event as youth and inexperience lead to multiple yellow flags. In the end it was prior week winner Jon Plowman coming from the twelfth starting position to get his second win of the season. Jerod Weston held on to second, while Council Bluffs’ Randy Archer avoided the carnage to come from seventeenth to third in the fifteen lap feature. Blain Peterson and Josh Cooper were fourth and fifth.

Hobby stocks

Twenty three Chat Mobility hobby stocks made the call for the green flag and it was two Jeremy’s doing battle at the end. Jeremy Purdy brought his number 4 car across for his first win of the season, while Jeremy Auten, driving the number 20 machine, finished second. Blain Petersen, doing double duty in both a hobby stock and a b-mod finished third, followed by Tom Myers and Brett Sink.

Racing resumes at ACS Saturday with Iowa State Savings Bank on board as the weekly sponsor. ISSBee will be on hand to greet the kids with racing action starting at 7 p.m. For full results and current points standing check out www.acspeedway.com.